Paper Moon Rising
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: Hal didn't get Tom a birthday gift. He eventually makes one. The gift keeps on giving.


_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing._

_**Author Note: **Set after the series four episode 'A Spectre Calls'_

* * *

**PAPER MOON RISING**

There was still some cake left over from Tom's birthday. Hal didn't eat any of it; he just stared at it for long periods of time. Annie thought that he was meditating, but really the only thing he was concentrating on was his own nagging thoughts. Tom had had a birthday and Hal hadn't given him a present. They hadn't known each other long but such unusual circumstances had brought the whole household close together.

And Tom deserved a birthday present. He deserved a lot of things.

Hal found that he wanted to buy Tom something. It would have to be extremely cheap. All the money he made went towards the house's bills. Hal thought about the problem for hours on end. It felt….wrong not to give Tom something; it felt rude, impolite even. A simple token would do. If Hal's birthday was public knowledge, he was sure Tom would produce a present of some kind for him. Tom was like that. And Hal couldn't be in his imaginary debt. That was all.

* * *

He was halfway through his origami hour when the answer came to him. It was in his hands. Origami. Something simple, something for Tom to put up on his wall. Hal nodded to himself. Perfect. He began to try out some ideas. It was good to have something new to focus on.

He created a mobile for Eve. It was something for him to do while he watched the baby. Folded shapes of planets, moons, and stars, hung from string over her bedroom cot. Eve's eyes began to follow the paper's movement. Annie liked the mobile too. She beamed widely when she saw it and tried to hug Hal, an impulse that he quickly put a stop to.

Annie and Eve liked it. Maybe Tom would as well. Hal shook his head. He was being ridiculous.

He bought sheets of multi-coloured paper and concentrated. A paper football. Tom liked football. It would probably amuse him for hours on end. Hal spent two days perfecting it. Then there was the problem of how to present it. He couldn't just hand it over, what would he say? In the end, he left it on Tom's bed. He had to do double amounts of press-ups and dominoes in order to keep himself distracted from thinking about it. This wasn't a big deal. It was just a birthday present for an acquaintance. A friend. A present for a friend. Repaying a debt that was no doubt yet to come.

When Hal ventured downstairs for a cup of tea, Tom was in the living room, flicking the paper football. His smile was enormous and it made something move in Hal's chest.

"Cheers, Hal. This is wicked."

"I'm glad you like it."

Contentment. That was what Hal was feeling, just from observing Tom's overflowing happiness at receiving a carefully folded piece of paper. How strange. The next time Hal looked at the clock, he realised with a start that he'd been watching Tom for over fifteen minutes. He quickly made his excuses and dashed upstairs to his room. He breathed in the now-familiar smell and reached for his dominoes. Laying them out didn't make him feel as calm as staring at Tom had.

* * *

The incident niggled at him; Tom's smile, Hal's calm. He tried to distract himself with origami – it was the only thing that came close to helping. Leo's voice in his head suggested that Hal now associated paper-folding with Tom, the real cause of the tendrils of tranquillity.

He made paper cups and saucers for Annie. Eve would be able to play with them when she was older. He folded birds that weren't cranes and hung them in every room, constantly rearranging them. Paper boxes and flowers - he folded an armful of pink roses for Annie. Saying it with flowers had always seemed like a trite advertiser's slogan, but now Hal found it to be extremely true.

Tom was watching him. Hal tried hard to look away.

He hadn't stopped making stuff for Tom. Paper footballers. Paper snowflakes and puzzles to occupy the mind and fingers.

A paper wolf. Hal spent a lot of time on that, fussing with the paper, with the size of it, the exactness of its construction. When he made the final fold, Tom's hand pressed down on top of it. Hal swallowed. He didn't look up.

"What are you doing?"

"Is that a wolf?"

Hal cleared his throat. "Visual aids. For Eve."

"What, for stories? Like werewolves against vampires an' stuff?"

The absurdity of the idea caused Hal to look up. The expression on Tom's face was hungry. Heat skittered up Hal's spine in response. Tom wasn't wearing a full moon look but it was close and it chimed with Hal's bloodlust. How very close sex and violence were. Tom was far too close to that line. So was Hal. But he didn't pull away from the feel of Tom's skin.

Tom's eyes were roaming him ravenously. "You trying' to say sumthin'?"

"Origami is part of my routine. From two until…."

"I know all that. But you didn't give bits away before, did ya? Leo woulda told me on his list."

Hal silently cursed Tom's flashes of insight. He noticed Tom's hand moving against his. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"So why're you doin' it then?"

Hal could crush Tom's wrist. He could picture Leo raising a disbelieving eyebrow - _you're going to break your vow just so that you don't have to answer a question? Desperate times….._

Tom slid the paper wolf out of Hal's grasp and looked at it. He stroked the furred outline. What memories was he seeing? Hal squeezed a couple of Tom's fingers. Loss was a feeling that werewolves and vampires understood far too well. Loss and grief, always moving on and always _more_. More countries to conquer, more bodies to drain, more fights to win.

Tom kept one hand on the paper wolf and the other firmly on Hal. Hal let him.

* * *

By the next evening, there was a paper vampire waiting in Tom's room, sat on his pillow like it belonged there.

_-the end_


End file.
